Kickass is all I can say. Charles is wonderful, he even does a lecture where there is some cosplay at the end! I won't go into detail on that, since it'd ruin the surprise. But let me tell you, it's a helluva act.

He also has his own book for the course. Google "Charles Cockell Astrobiology" for the book. He'll refund you the money he gets from the sale of the book (~10%) if you buy it, since he endeavours not to be biased and force his book for profit.

It's an elective; as long as you have enough credits for it, you can take it, regardless of course.

Kickass is all I can say. Charles is wonderful, he even does a lecture where there is some cosplay at the end! I won't go into detail on that, since it'd ruin the surprise. But let me tell you, it's a helluva act.

He also has his own book for the course. Google "Charles Cockell Astrobiology" for the book. He'll refund you the money he gets from the sale of the book (~10%) if you buy it, since he endeavours not to be biased and force his book for profit.

It's an elective; as long as you have enough credits for it, you can take it, regardless of course.

I want to take it only because of Charles Cockell. The man's a genius. Unfortunately I read the cosplay thing on an article...yeah ik.

Kickass is all I can say. Charles is wonderful, he even does a lecture where there is some cosplay at the end! I won't go into detail on that, since it'd ruin the surprise. But let me tell you, it's a helluva act.

He also has his own book for the course. Google "Charles Cockell Astrobiology" for the book. He'll refund you the money he gets from the sale of the book (~10%) if you buy it, since he endeavours not to be biased and force his book for profit.

It's an elective; as long as you have enough credits for it, you can take it, regardless of course.

Also, is there anyway to further astrobiology in terms of research or other electives. Does CS Cockell take any other classes in the 2,3 or 4th year? Please help!

(Original post by GunmasterG9)
Also, is there anyway to further astrobiology in terms of research or other electives. Does CS Cockell take any other classes in the 2,3 or 4th year? Please help!

Sadly I don't have much extra information. To my awareness, he only teaches that particular course on Astrobiology. I believe he does a graduate course on it, however I'm unsure as to what it entails.

A lot of the content of the Astrobiology course is organic chemistry, astrodynamics and that sort of thing. At the end of the day, it's the study of lifes existence and how it comes to exist, and whether it may exist elsewhere, and how to find signs of such an existence. That sort of thing.

Astrobiology in itself isn't an actual subject one can fully learn in one area like Physics or Mathematics. It constitutes a combination of many different subjects with their own applications, and Astrobiologists are folks who specialise in say, Chemistry, and apply it to that particular purpose. I'd just recommend taking extra electives in whatever courses you want to contribute to your knowledge of this wonderful subject area, as I've mentioned.

That being said, I've been following that particular plan. Meteorology, Observational Astronomy & Computing. Contributes to the observational and predictive side of things. For Biology you could follow Chemistry since it plays quite nicely, but that's just my opinion.

(Original post by Callicious)
Sadly I don't have much extra information. To my awareness, he only teaches that particular course on Astrobiology. I believe he does a graduate course on it, however I'm unsure as to what it entails.

A lot of the content of the Astrobiology course is organic chemistry, astrodynamics and that sort of thing. At the end of the day, it's the study of lifes existence and how it comes to exist, and whether it may exist elsewhere, and how to find signs of such an existence. That sort of thing.

Astrobiology in itself isn't an actual subject one can fully learn in one area like Physics or Mathematics. It constitutes a combination of many different subjects with their own applications, and Astrobiologists are folks who specialise in say, Chemistry, and apply it to that particular purpose. I'd just recommend taking extra electives in whatever courses you want to contribute to your knowledge of this wonderful subject area, as I've mentioned.

That being said, I've been following that particular plan. Meteorology, Observational Astronomy & Computing. Contributes to the observational and predictive side of things. For Biology you could follow Chemistry since it plays quite nicely, but that's just my opinion.

Thank you so much. That's the most comprehensive answer I have gotten anywhere. If you could just help a little more: What year are you at Edinburgh, and is it good in terms of ranking, facility...holistically?

(Original post by GunmasterG9)
Thank you so much. That's the most comprehensive answer I have gotten anywhere. If you could just help a little more: What year are you at Edinburgh, and is it good in terms of ranking, facility...holistically?

Also, how does it compare to UCL, Durham and St. Andrews?

I'm currently a second year taking a course in Astrophysics.

Personally I have no clue about ranking; I never considered that in my application to University. When I applied, I only really considered the region of the country, the city, the campus, the course content, and the weather conditions in the city. One of my hobbies is Astrophotography and so that matters a lot to me. Either ways...

As far as facility goes, pretty nice. All the lecture theatre's I've been in have recording functionality so you can watch videos online. I don't attend lectures and seldom watch the videos, learning mostly from notes. I live ~1.5 hours from Uni and so it's a pretty big time-drain to go when I can just stay at home to study, and the notes are very nice indeed, as are the recommended books. The labs are nice and clean, with modern equipment, though some of it may be a tad antiquated.

Holistically... I'll be honest, I didn't know the definition of that word until I searched it up. I still don't know the answer.
-> If it refers to Religion, which was my first thought, then there're plenty of societies related to this. However, most people I know aren't religious and are in fact atheists, some of them actually oppose religion vehemetly.
-> If it refers to personal health, i.e. mental, psychological, physical, etc, then I have no information. Personally I have a few issues but I deal with them myself, not well, but yeah. They do have councillors and psychiatrists, and they are very lenient for exams and your own personal mental health

Sorry about the last point; I like to think I have a reasonable vocabulary, but, when Google itself can't provide a definition, I'm at ends. I'm a simple Physicist that just knows Physics-speak ;-;

No clue about comparison against other Universities. When I first applied to University, I was just going because I could, and I picked Edinburgh because of the Astrophysics course. That's pretty much it, I didn't read that much into it, and frankly I'm glad I picked it.

(Original post by Callicious)
I'm currently a second year taking a course in Astrophysics.

Personally I have no clue about ranking; I never considered that in my application to University. When I applied, I only really considered the region of the country, the city, the campus, the course content, and the weather conditions in the city. One of my hobbies is Astrophotography and so that matters a lot to me. Either ways...

As far as facility goes, pretty nice. All the lecture theatre's I've been in have recording functionality so you can watch videos online. I don't attend lectures and seldom watch the videos, learning mostly from notes. I live ~1.5 hours from Uni and so it's a pretty big time-drain to go when I can just stay at home to study, and the notes are very nice indeed, as are the recommended books. The labs are nice and clean, with modern equipment, though some of it may be a tad antiquated.

Holistically... I'll be honest, I didn't know the definition of that word until I searched it up. I still don't know the answer.
-> If it refers to Religion, which was my first thought, then there're plenty of societies related to this. However, most people I know aren't religious and are in fact atheists, some of them actually oppose religion vehemetly.
-> If it refers to personal health, i.e. mental, psychological, physical, etc, then I have no information. Personally I have a few issues but I deal with them myself, not well, but yeah. They do have councillors and psychiatrists, and they are very lenient for exams and your own personal mental health

Sorry about the last point; I like to think I have a reasonable vocabulary, but, when Google itself can't provide a definition, I'm at ends. I'm a simple Physicist that just knows Physics-speak ;-;

No clue about comparison against other Universities. When I first applied to University, I was just going because I could, and I picked Edinburgh because of the Astrophysics course. That's pretty much it, I didn't read that much into it, and frankly I'm glad I picked it.

You are honestly one of the most genial person I have come across. Thank you for taking the time out to help me. I am from India, so being an international student compels me to scrutinize courses and universities.
About *wholistic. My bad. Didn't pay attention and forgot to type the 'w'. But thanks anyways, getting an insight into how the atheist fraternity lines up really interests me. Back here in India, atheism is still on the low, so don't find many like minded individuals.

(Original post by GunmasterG9)
You are honestly one of the most genial person I have come across. Thank you for taking the time out to help me. I am from India, so being an international student compels me to scrutinize courses and universities.
About *wholistic. My bad. Didn't pay attention and forgot to type the 'w'. But thanks anyways, getting an insight into how the atheist fraternity lines up really interests me. Back here in India, atheism is still on the low, so don't find many like minded individuals.

Thanks! That's the first time I've ever received such a compliment xD

Either ways, that's interesting. I know a few exchange students and international students, but they're mostly from Canada and the Americas. They enjoyed it here though, those that are still here still do (the non-exchange students, that is)

I also forgot to mention, if you take Introductory Astrophysics, the course assignment is an open-ended topic. Sometimes you get Astrobiology-related topics. The one we had was related to Boyajians Star, which had some Astrobiology implications. So if you do go to the UoE, I'd 10/10 recommend it! ;p

(Original post by Callicious)
Thanks! That's the first time I've ever received such a compliment xD

Either ways, that's interesting. I know a few exchange students and international students, but they're mostly from Canada and the Americas. They enjoyed it here though, those that are still here still do (the non-exchange students, that is)

I also forgot to mention, if you take Introductory Astrophysics, the course assignment is an open-ended topic. Sometimes you get Astrobiology-related topics. The one we had was related to Boyajians Star, which had some Astrobiology implications. So if you do go to the UoE, I'd 10/10 recommend it! ;p

So can introductory astrophysics be taken with biology? As in can it be part of one's timetable?

(Original post by GunmasterG9)
So can introductory astrophysics be taken with biology? As in can it be part of one's timetable?

The Uni works on a credit system, i.e. you have 120 per year (at least I did, I think that's the recommended amount) and you can assign your credits for any course, once you've assigned the necessary amount for your required courses.

If you take Biology, for example, you might be required to have a lab course, which takes X credits. You'd also have Y credits worth of other courses that are necessary. Your total credits, i.e. 120, will constitute X, Y and Z, with Z representing the number of "free" credits you have; you can put these toward whatever you want.

Usually this corresponds to one free elective per semester, at least it has for me thus far. It should, in your first year, allow for Astrophysics and Astrobiology. But I digress, that depends on your course. For Physics it was like that, I don't know for Biology.

(Original post by Callicious)
The Uni works on a credit system, i.e. you have 120 per year (at least I did, I think that's the recommended amount) and you can assign your credits for any course, once you've assigned the necessary amount for your required courses.

If you take Biology, for example, you might be required to have a lab course, which takes X credits. You'd also have Y credits worth of other courses that are necessary. Your total credits, i.e. 120, will constitute X, Y and Z, with Z representing the number of "free" credits you have; you can put these toward whatever you want.

Usually this corresponds to one free elective per semester, at least it has for me thus far. It should, in your first year, allow for Astrophysics and Astrobiology. But I digress, that depends on your course. For Physics it was like that, I don't know for Biology.

Given the current setup, how is the sense of acceptance at Edin? Acceptance as in is it welcoming to International students, is there racism...stuff like that!

I'd note, astrobiology is a pretty niche field so you're unlikely to come across more than a couple courses specifically in that area. It ties in heavily with planetary science more broadly and thus more specifically things like geochemistry and microbiology. You might want to look at their offerings in those areas.

The person teaching said course studied biosciences originally, then moved into the intersection between earth sciences and biology, ultimately in astrobiology. An astrophysics course is going to teach you very little related to astrobiology areas; you'll be learning about the fundamental physics which governs...everything. If that is the specific interest for you, I'd suggest looking at either the biosciences or earth science related areas, rather than physics related courses probably...

You can always try and send the guy and email to enquire, he sounds like he'd be receptive of such contact and may offer some advice from his experiences in the field.